Chapter 47
The sky was gloomy, and towering mountains stretched before our eyes, rising into the clouds and blocking out the sun.
The mountain is a black rock wall with no grass growing on it. Dark red lava flows on it, emitting white hot steam.
At the foot of the mountain stood a slender figure, dressed in fiery red, with unparalleled grace and blazing eyes, the only bright spot in this gloomy world.
The game panel switches and the battle interface unfolds before your eyes.
A dazzling skill effect flashed, knocking two nearby monsters to the ground. Shen Fengni clutched the shimmering folding fan tightly in her hand and headed toward the mountaintop for the third time.
Six days had passed since she and Zhezhi began their marriage quest. Today was the final stage. If they completed it, they would receive the corresponding item and become a couple.
The marriage missions were indeed quite difficult, requiring both skill and strategy. However, both she and Zhezhi were already quite experienced in the game, so the first six missions went smoothly for them.
Even if you encounter difficulties occasionally, you can quickly find a solution by referring to the strategies compiled by seniors in the forum.
But there was a small accident in today's mission.
Usually, the difficulty of the last link in a series of tasks in online games will increase, and the marriage task in "Jiang Hu Nuo" is no exception.
The first six tasks are fixed, and the seventh task is randomly generated by the database. You may not necessarily get which one you will draw, just like opening a blind box.
To address this, enthusiastic players have created a dedicated thread on the forum, documenting various seventh missions and providing detailed cracking methods. Currently, there are over fifty documented, with more being added constantly.
I don't know if it's luck or misfortune, but there's no record of the missions Chen Fengni and Zhezhi picked. Maybe it was just recently updated, or maybe it's just never been picked before.
The quest system in Jianghu Nuo was enormous. Although Zhezhi was the game's producer, she couldn't and didn't need to oversee every single quest herself. She had never heard of a random quest like the one before her.
In short, it's difficult.
The main plot of the mission is very clear. In a nutshell, one of the two knights is trapped on the top of the mountain, and the other has to find a way to rescue him/her, take him/her down the mountain, and reach a safe place. The mission is considered completed.
Of course, it's not just a simple climb. Wild monsters will constantly spawn on the mountain road and attack the player. And because of the lava, the player will add a health loss debuff, and the speed of blood loss will increase over time.
According to the roles assigned by the system, Jiang Zhuoyan became the trapped one, while Chen Fengni played the role of a hero who saved the beauty.
Chen Fengni thought that with her increasingly proficient fighting skills, she could easily clear the obstacles and reach the top of the mountain, but she soon discovered that something was wrong.
Even if she rushed to the top of the mountain as quickly as possible, it would take her about twenty minutes. It would take at least an hour to rescue Jiang Zhuoyan and bring her down the mountain.
However, according to the blood loss buff set in the task, her blood bar will be emptied in half an hour.
In the early stages, you can still rely on recovery skills and medicine to replenish blood and barely maintain a balance between income and expenditure, but in the later stages, the blood loss rate is too fast and it is impossible to recover.
In other words, if you want to complete the task, you must control the time within half an hour.
After failing twice, Shen Fengni and Jiang Zhuoyan had a discussion.
Finally, the two came to the conclusion that there must be some way to shorten the mission time or reduce the effect of the blood loss buff during the mission, but it was just ignored.
Jiang Zhuoyan was trapped on the top of the mountain with his arms bound by chains, and there was very little he could do, so the key node was likely to be the relatively free Shen Fengni.
So this time, Shen Fengni decided to slow down on the way up the mountain, temporarily putting aside the matter of reaching the top of the mountain quickly, and focus on exploration to see if he could find any shortcuts or special auxiliary medicines.
She observed as she walked, and when she was almost halfway there, she still had no results.
There are no special items to interact with on the mountain road, no secret passages or other mechanisms, and the monsters don’t drop anything valuable... What should I do?
Shen Fengni pursed her lips anxiously, thinking that she would return empty-handed again this time.
At this moment, a figure suddenly appeared in front.
The man was tall and slender, dressed in a bloodstained white robe, and looked a little disheveled. But his eyes were still clear, like a lake under a clear sky.
A woman in white was stumbling towards her, holding a guqin.
It's a broken branch.
Shen Fengni suddenly opened her eyes wide.
She hurried over and asked, "What's wrong with you? Are you okay?"
Although this was just a virtual world and the wounds were just a change in data, she still couldn't help but feel distressed when she saw Zhezhi injured.
And when she got closer, she found that Zhezhi's injury was more serious than she had imagined. His entire right arm was missing. The wound had been simply bandaged, but it was still bleeding.
Shen Fengni was secretly shocked. Usually, a player's health was indicated by a health bar, which didn't reveal anything from the outside. She had been playing Jianghu Nuo for so long, but this was the first time she had seen a character model so damaged. She began to wonder if there was a bug.
Beneath her veil, Zhezhi's lips curled up slightly, "It's just a game, what's the big deal?"
Shen Fengni felt a tightness in her heart, "Does it hurt?"
After asking this question, she felt that it was a stupid one and immediately started to feel bad. Anyone who heard it would probably laugh at her.
"It won't hurt." Zhezhi's eyes flickered, "But the character's movements will be restricted, and the body's sense of balance will also be worse."
As she spoke, she held the person beside her with her only remaining left hand and said cheerfully, "My skills have mostly faded, so I'll have to rely on you to protect me on the rest of the way."
Shen Fengni immediately agreed, "No problem."
Zhezhi's sudden appearance halfway up the mountain undoubtedly bought the two of them a lot of time. As long as they could get down the mountain smoothly, they could complete the mission.
The blood loss buff has been continuing, and the health bars of both people have been declining. To be safe, it is better to hurry up.
Nothing unexpected happened on the rest of the journey. Just like when we came here, there were only some wild monsters that refreshed from time to time.
Shen Fengni could handle it perfectly, so she simply distracted herself and asked about Zhezhi's experience.
She wanted to know how Zhezhi suddenly appeared in front of her and why he was covered in injuries.
Zhezhi said, "It's nothing actually."
At first, like Shen Fengni, she thought she was just a character waiting to be rescued, but after failing twice, she didn't want to sit there and wait for death anymore.
So Zhezhi started exploring the surrounding environment from the beginning of this mission and finally found a clue.
She was completely bound, unable to use her weapon skills. The chain on her right hand was incredibly strong, and no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't budge. However, the chain on her left hand was weaker, and she could break free with some skillful effort.
At the moment the chain fell off, a mechanism somewhere was triggered, and a long sword fell at her feet, just within her reach.
Zhezhi picked up the sword and tried to chop at the chains that bound her, but it had no effect.
After a brief hesitation, she cut off her right arm.
The moment the blood gushed out, Zhezhi knew he had succeeded.
In Jianghu Nuo, the player's physical condition is displayed by the health bar, but there are also some special tasks that will damage the task model and cause combat damage.
If the idea is wrong, the character model will not be destroyed.
After escaping from control, Zhezhi treated his wounds according to the instructions on the game panel, and then immediately rushed down the mountain.
Afterwards, she discovered a teleportation mechanism near the top of the mountain, which required a blood sacrifice to trigger.
The cut on the broken arm was still bleeding. Everything went smoothly and she activated the mechanism easily.
In the blink of an eye, she appeared in front of Shen Fengni.
Shen Fengni thought thoughtfully, "I see."
As the altitude decreases, the magma on both sides of the road gradually decreases until it disappears.
The NPC who issued the quest stood at the foot of the mountain, her black robe hidden by the lush vegetation. Seeing the two approaching, the woman raised her head and smiled, "You're here."
Shen Fengni operates on the game panel and presses the interact button to talk to the NPC.
The Red Lady paused and said the prepared lines, "We passed the test, right?"
"Of course, you have behaved very well. I will give you what you want as agreed."
The woman looked at the two people snuggling together gently, as if she knew exactly what they had just experienced. "I believe you also have a lot of feelings during this process."
"You mean to say that we should support each other and get through life's difficulties together, right?"
This time it is Oriji's character's turn to speak.
"That's right." The woman nodded approvingly, a smile in her eyes. "Relationships can't just rely on one-sided efforts; they can only last longer if they're mutual. I hope you two can be braver in the future and stand firm towards each other no matter what happens."
After saying that, she raised her hand, and soft light spread from her fingertips and wrapped around Zhezhi's shoulders.
The severed arm recovered in an instant, intact.
Even though he knew that all this was virtual, Shen Fengni still breathed a sigh of relief and felt a lot better.
A system prompt pops up at this time.
[Congratulations to both of you for successfully completing the last step of the marriage mission [Rescue].]
【Obtain [Marriage Knot] 1/1. 】
【Obtain additional reward [Brave Heart] 1/1. 】
After completing all the seven rings of tasks, it is natural to obtain a marriage. But what is this "brave heart"?
Chen Fengni curiously opened the game panel, wanting to check the item description in her backpack.
At this time, the system prompts you to refresh again.
[Brave Heart] is a passive item and will be activated soon. Please be prepared.]
[Countdown: 5, 4, 3...]
Wait, this was triggered too quickly, right?
Also, what do you need to prepare?
Shen Fengni looked at the countdown number reaching zero in confusion, at a loss for what to do for a moment.
The next second, her body suddenly fell uncontrollably towards the broken branch, and the other party happened to come over and hugged her in his arms.
The dark clouds dispersed, and the gray sky cleared up and became clear and bright.
The dark mountains in the distance seemed to be suddenly cast under a spell, and in an instant they took off their lifeless coat, and all things revived and became lush and green.
The breeze rustled through the treetops, and colorful flowers bloomed at my feet, seeming like a dream, so beautiful that it seemed unreal.
In the bright sunshine, Zhezhi moved closer and kissed Shen Fengni on the lips.
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